Yesterday Word Horde announced the planned release of my collection The Lure of Devouring Light for this April. Yesterday it became official, and known to many.

I’ve known this was a “done deal” for quite some time, and didn’t for a moment doubt that Ross E. Lockhart would do what he said he would do… and yet, yesterday’s announcement was a relief to me, as well as a cause for excitement, for several reasons.

There was the obvious pride and pleasure of seeing the announcement met with interest and enthusiasm. Hey, people want to see my book when it comes out! Some people are even pre-ordering it without having seen the cover.

There was relief at being able to stop keeping the secret, especially from people I thought might be interested to hear it. Last October, Orrin Grey visited Portland for the occasion of his book release (Painted Monsters, which came out on Word Horde), which coincided with the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. Orrin stayed the night before the HPLFF began at our house. Lena and I and Orrin had a nice time, chatting at the Edgefield about horror movies. I wanted to tell Orrin “Hey, guess what? Looks like we’re going to share a publisher,” but the deal wasn’t final yet and I didn’t want to go around talking it up prematurely.

There was the realization that now I get to share the wonderfully flattering blurbs I’ve received from four of my favorite writers. I’ll post these here soon.

There was knowing that I would be seen differently by a lot of people who hadn’t previously read my work, but might now give it a shot, whether because of the endorsement of Word Horde or the kind statements of respected writers in the blurbs I just mentioned. The point of this isn’t “I want to be perceived differently,” but that I hope my work will reach more people in the future, and I think this book will really help that happen.

Yesterday felt like a big deal. It was fun and exciting, and I have the sense the fun is just getting started.

I’ll have lots to say between the time of this announcement and the actual release of the book, so this blog space will be much more active for a while.